2008 Senior All Star Game

July 12, 2008 - Brendan Green (Pittsford/Ithaca) and Mitch Ritchie (McQuaid Jesuit/LeMoyne) were named the MVP for their respective teams in the First Annual Herb Fitch Lacrosse Senior Showcase presented by Adidas. Green led the Blue Team (Monroe County athletes) to an 18-10 victory over the White Team (Finger Lakes and GRALL athletes).

The game began with strong defensive plays by both sides. Eric Horeth (Schroeder/MCC) of the Blue Team made an early key take that kept the game scoreless. The first goal of the game was scored by blue team middie, Cade Norris (HFL/US Naval Academy) who scored with a straight in dodge and a rocket to the upper corner against Scott Bement (Canandaigua /Harford). Bement played the first and third quarters for the White team and finished with 6s/8ga (43%). Dan Caufield (McQuaid Jesuit/Plattsburg) played the second and fourth quarters for the White team and finished with 8s/10ga (44%).

White quickly scored their first goal as Nick Caton (McQuaid Jesuit/Bridgton) scored on a roll dodge from the midfield. With 4:00 remaining the score was still 1-1 and the game looked as if it was going to be a close defensive struggle. However, the game changed pace as the Blue team scored the next ten unanswered goals, spanning over the next nineteen minutes.

Scoring in that period for the Blue Team were Norris, Mike Wallenhorst (Irondequoit/Dominican), Connor Rice (Penfield/Salisbury School), Greg Wright (Irondequoit/Cortland), Gino Marcello (C-C /Keuka) and Ethan Payne (Victor/Lycoming). Brad Weber (Gates-Chili/Brockport) added one assist in the Blue team run.

Attackmen were major factors in today's game as both teams' scoring were led by the attack. The Blue Team scored 11/18 goals from the attack and the White Team scored 6/10. In fact, of the nineteen players who made the scorebook (both teams combined), 11 of them were attackman (6 middies, 1 LSM and 1 Defenseman).

White's problems stemmed from the lack of goalie production (44%) and the lack of quality and volume of shots. In the first half, Blue took 27 shots with 18 on cage and 10 goals. White only had 11 shots (6 on cage and 1 goal). The White team seemed to be waiting to take shot and subsequently lost possession of the ball (which they fixed in the second half). The midfielders and face-off men for Blue kept getting their offense the ball. Blue face-off men had 3 face-off fast-breaks (with Blue having six fast-breaks overall and White having one).

As the second half started, the White team seemed to bring things back together. The third was the only quarter that White won (5-3). The second half saw the inverse in shooting, with White taking 30 shots to Blues 20. Blue scored the first goal of the quarter as they scored their tenth consecutive goal. Mike Wallenhorst scored from his own ground ball on a face-off fast-break only 0:05 into the quarter. White came back with their own goal from their MVP, Mitch Ritchie with a hard shot to the corner. On the ensuing face-off, however, Kyle Denhoff (Penfield/St. John Fisher) grabbed his own ground ball and scored another face-off fast-break for Blue. White's Frank Valenti (Victor/Hobart) and Justin Tomzak (Canandaigua/St. John Fisher) teamed up for the next goal on a strong ride and broken clear.

White continued scoring with another goal from Ritchie. After four minutes of neither team scoring, Blue added another to the scoreboard on a fast-break clear with Zach White (HFL/RIT) scoring on the crease after a feed from Jake Zeigler (Thomas/LeMoyne). The final two goals of the quarter were both scored by White with Ritchie scoring his third and Caton scoring his second both with drives from the top and hard shots on the goal.

In the cage for Blue both goalies stepped up. Green finished the game with 5s/1ga (83%) and the best percentage of all the goalies (each goalie for both teams played two quarters). Mike Palvino (Spencerport/FLCC) made the most saves with 9s/9ga (50%).

Austin Rogers (Canandaigua/Hartford) scored on a straight drive from the top and a high bounce in front of the crease. After two more Blue goals from Zach White and Rice, the White added three more to come with five (the closest they ever came). Rogers added his second with an assist from behind the cage from JD Ayer (McQuaid Jesuit/Bentley). Connor Henderson (Canandaigua/St. John Fisher) added his lone goal of the game next, followed quickly by a goal from Kyle Boncaro (Geneva/Goucher).

Blue scored the final three goals to retake the eight point lead and the finish with the victory. Ziegler had a brilliant take on Henderson, after which he picked up his own ground ball and pushed the fast-break His hard work paid off as Marcello looked back into the center of the field to find Ziegler open for the goal. Rice added his third, followed by Marcello's third. Marcello's fourth, the final goal of the game, was scored with 0:13 remaining and was assisted by Ian Nash (Irondequoit/MCC).

Leading the ground ball effort for the Blue Team were Nick Mooney (Schroeder/MCC) with seven and Green with six. Leading for the White team were Caton and Valenti with five each. Leading takes for Blue was Zeigler with three; for White Mitch Bailey (McQuaid Jesuit/LeMoyne) and Ben Knapton (Canandaigua/Hartford) with two each.